I recently discovered that I am a big fan of Rangers, Especially in Diablo 3 and Path of Exile. But am I the only one who feels they get the....shaft? (see what I did there? )

Scenario time!

I just slaughtered an angry horde of Zombies and am now completely surrounded by a mountain of items, very rare swords, and really cool staffs and....where's the bow....wheres the quiver of arrows....oh look there's one, it's a level one bow that does 1/1000th the damage of the bow I am currently using and have been using for what feels like an eternity...what's up with that!?

Discuss...




EDIT: I changed the subject from Ranger's in MMO's to Rangers in RPG's....makes a bit more sense...

I, umm...? *walks away*

happyguy142 wrote:I recently discovered that I am a big fan of Rangers, Especially in Diablo 3 and Path of Exile. But am I the only one who feels they get the....shaft? (see what I did there? )

Scenario time!

I just slaughtered an angry horde of Zombies and am now completely surrounded by a mountain of items, very rare swords, and really cool staffs and....where's the bow....wheres the quiver of arrows....oh look there's one, it's a level one bow that does 1/1000th the damage of the bow I am currently using and have been using for what feels like an eternity...what's up with that!?

Discuss...

EDIT: I changed the subject from Ranger's in MMO's to Rangers in RPG's....makes a bit more sense...

I'm not sure what you're talking about... maybe the Demon Hunter in Diablo 3? But typically a Ranger can indeed use "very rare swords". A "ranger" is typically an agile fighter so they don't tend toward heavy armor, shields, and large two handed weapons but they almost always can use one handed swords and axes. Often in fact they dual wield lighter melee weapons in games. The fact a Demon Hunter can't use a sword in Diablo III is the exception to the rule, it's not common at all.

Diablo 3 has this very weird schism where they basically turned the Ranger/Hunter archetype into to distinct classes, the Demon Hunter (who is purely ranged, squishy and highly mobile) and the Monk (who does melee, and is also squishy and highly mobile).

As far as shafting the ranger class goes, MMO in general have this strange meta that ranged must always do less damage than melee (to balance the higher risk/shorter uptime of melee DPS), while also being in the more lightly armored bracket. This normally means that even if you can do melee, you're better off avoiding it since the "real" melees will usually out-DPS and out-Armor you in that situation. So you have to hang back and kite instead.
If your MMO of choice then also follows the fallacy of balancing classes around PVP, you're usually stuck with the ranged kiter/ambusher style, or you will suck.

That said, Guild Wars 2 had a rather nice Ranger concept, which played rather well, too. It's probably been nerfed to hell and back by now, but hey, the class definitely was fun.

Can't complain about the loot/weapon choices in most MMOs, either. There's usually a few spiffy models in every category, but of course, those are MMOS. YMMV. Rangers are probably more fun in a classical Pen & Paper environment, where there is little to no meta and you're instead a guy with a bow, a sword and maybe an animal companion. In that context, it only has to be fun, and make for a good story. MMOs tend to be extremely meta-focussed and gamey in comparison, being all about numbers, loot and tiny, tiny levels of improvement. Diablo 3, in that regard, is MMO Redux, all the loot and numbercrunching and none of the arbitrary delays like "you can only enter here once per week".


Independent of you preferred class however, keep in mind that the loot fairy is of the female dog persuasion (you know, rhymes with "witch"), while the RNG is out to screw you. If you were looking for an awesome sword, it would be bows and crossbows all the way.

-Hardenberg

Hardenberg wrote:
Independent of you preferred class however, keep in mind that the loot fairy is of the female dog persuasion (you know, rhymes with "witch"), while the RNG is out to screw you. If you were looking for an awesome sword, it would be bows and crossbows all the way.

-Hardenberg

This I think says it all lol!

I love rangers because I thoroughly enjoy being able to take out entire groups of enemies without actually getting near them. In Path of Exile I am bow and arrow all the way, I have no interest in swords or staffs or claws. So of course that's all I find

In combat-heavy fantasy games, I tend to gravitate toward the game's version of the Ranger archetype if possible.

If they come close to the D&D mechanics, Rangers are pretty near to being a jack-of-all-trades character: they can fight with ranged or melee weapons (including dual wielding, although I prefer to specialize in the bastard sword); they have woodcraft skills, often including improved mobility; and they can learn and use some magic spells (usually druidic).

That general competence -- being able to enjoy a wide variety of content (albeit of the murdery kind) -- makes the Ranger very attractive to me.

Flatfingers wrote:That general competence -- being able to enjoy a wide variety of content (albeit of the murdery kind) -- makes the Ranger very attractive to me.

I couldn't quite voice my attraction to the ranger type, but this really says it all for me as well.
Adding to this, I love to play solo in MMO's, and for me the ranger should be the ideal profession to do this. Ambushes and smart play, skill even, should make a huge difference.
Sadly I haven't yet found an MMO that lets you knockback creatures off a cliff so you gain the high ground, or allow for any real practical stealth abilities. Then again, I have to admit to never really explored all the possibilities. My main draw is to the glass cannon type.

Every time I play a new game I use rangers if available. I love the versatility and the folklore around them. It couldn't be otherwise, since I'm a fan at heart of Drizzt Do'Urden

Isn't Drizzt basically a swordfighter with no outdoor skills worth mentioning?

Nope. As soon he definitely put foot outside the Underdark he was mentored by Montolio in the ways of the rangers He became an expert guardian of the forests and the fauna. He doesn't make use of a bow, because, as you say, he's an expert swordsman with his scimitars, but he's a ranger at heart!

Now, rangers *with* RPGs.....

HowSerendipitous wrote:Now, rangers *with* RPGs.....

I'm a ranger fan as well. I usually bow them up. Sooo....

I'm all a-quiver-ing with anticipation to see where this discussion may track. When creating characters in games I can rarely help myelf when it comes to picking an archetype. Mind you I am often quite tipsy when playing my compy games so I often find myself so legolas that my choices of skills are less than optimal. Quite bad in fact that sometimes I have to give my entire party the shaft and try creating them again tomarrow.

Thankyou, thankyou.

I'm here all week.

PeterD wrote:

HowSerendipitous wrote:Now, rangers *with* RPGs.....

I'm a ranger fan as well. I usually bow them up. Sooo....

I'm all a-quiver-ing with anticipation to see where this discussion may track. When creating characters in games I can rarely help myelf when it comes to picking an archetype. Mind you I am often quite tipsy when playing my compy games so I often find myself so legolas that my choices of skills are less than optimal. Quite bad in fact that sometimes I have to give my entire party the shaft and try creating them again tomarrow.

Thankyou, thankyou.

I'm here all week.

I suppose you'd be rather wooden and green. Can't help your elf? That could be a problem. Giving your party the shaft? That sounds painful. They'll be sore about it next game.

PeterD wrote:

HowSerendipitous wrote:Now, rangers *with* RPGs.....

I'm a ranger fan as well. I usually bow them up. Sooo....

I'm all a-quiver-ing with anticipation to see where this discussion may track. When creating characters in games I can rarely help myelf when it comes to picking an archetype. Mind you I am often quite tipsy when playing my compy games so I often find myself so legolas that my choices of skills are less than optimal. Quite bad in fact that sometimes I have to give my entire party the shaft and try creating them again tomarrow.

Thankyou, thankyou.

I'm here all week.

Great.

I will tell all of my.. err, friends to check out your act at the Limit Theory Dinner Theater.

Needless to say, they will be sure to spread the word about the endless quips and puns in your Quiver of Mirth.

Oh yeah!

Tom wrote:

PeterD wrote:

HowSerendipitous wrote:Now, rangers *with* RPGs.....

I'm a ranger fan as well. I usually bow them up. Sooo....

I'm all a-quiver-ing with anticipation to see where this discussion may track. When creating characters in games I can rarely help myelf when it comes to picking an archetype. Mind you I am often quite tipsy when playing my compy games so I often find myself so legolas that my choices of skills are less than optimal. Quite bad in fact that sometimes I have to give my entire party the shaft and try creating them again tomarrow.

Thankyou, thankyou.

I'm here all week.

Great.

I will tell all of my.. err, friends to check out your act at the Limit Theory Dinner Theater.

Needless to say, they will be sure to spread the word about the endless quips and puns in your Quiver of Mirth.

Oh yeah!

They say a Ranger carries the lives of 24 men in his quiver.